Not good news at all, will really miss him if its true. Could do with Heremaia more then ever right now.

Oh dear that is not good at all.

Nightmare. On the plus side he'll get a hugely deserved rest. Who to spell with non match fit Heremaia? Guessing Jamie Ellis with either Horne or Whiting at 6.

Rugby League coach in bigging up his own player shocker.

Houghton is a decent SL hooker. That is all. He isn't even close to the standard of a player like James Roby. To suggest he is the best defender in SL based on the stats convinces me you don't understand the role of stats.

If you read on you will see amended that to one of the best defenders in SL which without a doubt he is, I agree he is no Roby however few are, we will agree to disagree that he is average because imo he is a very good hooker.

I reckon Ellis will get the gig, I believe we waiting results of Horneys scan, could be a long season especially if Russell returns to Wigan

I have a doubt. I didn't say he was average I said he was decent which without a doubt he is.

I have e-mailed boots & all as the other week Clarkey said that the stats relating to tackles made are based on first man in, I have asked him where he has sourced his information and if he could let me know where this information is, hopefully I will get a reply and share it on here.

Can you ask him how many Tackles he dominates or even wins the floor while your at it? Opposition players don't run straight for him because they think he is a brilliant defender. He does ok for his size and doesnt "miss" many tackles but that doesn't make him one of the best defenders in SL.

I see no problem with this, most tackles use 2/3 men to turn the man, we are fortunate that we have a hooker who is quick in to the tackle and support is not too far behind, very few tackles in any team are dominated by 1 player, in fact the only one I consider in our team who is effective on 1 to 1 is Moa.
I suppose it depends on what role you want your hooker to play, personally I prefer the defensive hooker who is quickly in to slow down the offensive side whilst the big forwards come in as 2nd man. I do not think there are any hookers in SL who have the ability to totally dominate the tackle on a 1 to 1 basis. People believer Houghton does not make good metres but there is only Lynch in our team who makes more, like I have mentioned I consider his development lies in his passing.

Surely not missing many tackles does make him one of the best defenders? After all, the point of tackling is to, well.... Tackle.

That is my interpretation , he is the top tackler and misses very few.

Thank god your not our defensive coach.

Again I'll use Roby as an example, and Swain when he was here, they regularly dominate tackles and they are/were brilliant defenders, some of the best in SL. To put Houghton up there with them based on your simplistic view of statistics is well, simple. The fact he plays 80 mins a week is also skewing his stats somewhat as well. As I said we have a decent English hooker at our club and I'm happy with that but we could do with some genuine class to help him out.

Hopefully we have that with Heremaia.